


Forever & Always

by Feeltheflame



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Add more as i go, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Fix-It, Friends to Lovers, Lance (Voltron)-centric, M/M, Pining Keith (Voltron), Post-Canon, Slow Burn, Spoilers, its the same until s8, loosely based off of s8 of voltron, self-indulgent fic, super duper slow burn guys
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-09-18 14:24:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16996689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Feeltheflame/pseuds/Feeltheflame
Summary: Lance took a deep breath in.“Don’t get me wrong I like Allura, but lately I’ve felt something holding me back” Lance rushed the words out with his exhale. He finally locked eyes with Hunk and at his confused expression, Lance knew he had to explain himself.“I do want to take Allura on a date, but I realized with everything that’s happened with Lotor and the Princess not having time to let herself heal. I think she just needs a friend right now and if she’ll let me, I would love to be that for her”“I still think you should ask her and if that’s the route you guys want to head out, at least you talked about it” Hunk said smiling sadly at Lance.“I’ll think about it”Or the one where the team is a family, Lance and Allura are really good friends, Keith is pining for Lance, and season 8 happened differently.Set after s7, loosely based off of s8





	Forever & Always

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Just to clear up some things:  
> 1\. I don't own any of these characters/voltron  
> 2\. This AU is set post s7 but is somewhat based off of s8  
> 3\. This work is unbeta so if there are any mistakes/misspelling feel free to let me know! 
> 
> Also, this an a very self-indulgent fanfic so I can be happy

Lance heard Hunk say goodbye to his parents and approach the table he was sitting at but he couldn’t get the out of the emotional funk he found himself in. It had been a few days since the Paladins of Voltron discovered and watched their very own TV show and although they all agreed it was the coolest thing ever, since watching it Lance has felt a little out of it.

He was aware Hunk was talking to him but he didn’t pay any attention and instead let his mind wander. He thought about TV show again. Something about it had rubbed him in the wrong way and he wasn’t sure what _exactly his problem  with it was._ Lance couldn't stop the uncomfortable feeling of it to consume his thoughts so he gave some vague responses to whatever Hunk was talking about as he continued to stir his coffee and block off Hunk’s voice. However, once Hunk started enthusiastic yelling about the Voltron show Lance was just thinking about. 

“I mean, they got it so wrong! Plus, I think they’re hinting at some romance between Keith and Allura”

“What?!” shooting out of his chair, Lance all but screamed at Hunk at his insinuation. He set his hands on the table in front of him to gain some stability. “Keith and Allura? More like Lance and Allura thank you very much”

“Ooh, a love triangle. I like where you’re taking this” Hunk continued on, not oblivious to the clear distress in Lance’s voice. At Hunk’s words, Lance felt himself shrunk. He slowly sat back down at his seat.

“No, no. It’s not about that” Lance said absentmindedly. 

“Wait that’s right!” Hunk said as realization dawned onto him. “You said you were gonna ask Allura on a date! You asked her, didn’t you? Oh, and she said no” Hunk’s voice was filled with a sympathetic tone. “Oh! Oh, man. Here I am rubbing it in your face” he gave Lance a _sorry! e_ xpression as he spoke. 

“She didn’t say no, I…Well, I never asked her”

“You chickened out?” Hunk asked exasperated.

“I was going to ask her” Lance retorted irritatedly, “But she’s been spending, like, every day in the med bay. Maybe--Maybe this just isn’t the right time”

“No, Lance. What? It’s the only time. After tomorrow, we’re back in space fighting the Galra. There is no other time, literally. You’re asking her today and that is final young man!”

And if Hunk hadn’t been paying attention to Lance, he would’ve completely missed Lance’s defeated sigh. 

Lance took a deep breath in.

“Don’t get me wrong I like Allura, but lately I’ve felt something holding me back” Lance rushed the words out with his exhale. He finally locked eyes with Hunk and at his confused expression, Lance knew he had to explain himself.

“I do want to take Allura on a date, but I realized with everything that’s happened with Lotor and the Princess not having time to let herself _heal._ I think she just needs a friend right now and if she’ll let me, I would love to be that for her”

“I still think you should ask her and if that’s the route you guys want to head out, at least you talked about it” Hunk said smiling sadly at Lance.

“I’ll think about it”

 

\-------------------------------

 

After the final briefing, Lance decided that he should at least try asking Allura out. 

“Hey, uh, Allura?”

“What is it, Lance”

“Oh, nothing much. Just, uh, checking in. So, how are things?”

“I’m sorry, but I really need to be getting back”

"Oh, right yeah. Um, well, I don’t want to keep you, so…”

Lance watched Allura walk away with Romelle. He was disappointed in himself but turned to walk away. When he turned Lance was blocked off by Hunk’s body and his stern expression. Lance felt himself being moved and pushed in the direction Allura was walking. He almost crashed into them. They both looked at him expectantly. 

“Um, actually, I was wondering if—Maybe, if you wanted to have dinner with me tonight? And my family. Dinner with me and my family?” Lance cringed internally stumbling his words and trying to find courage to keep going. He looked over Allura’s and Romelle’s shoulder and saw Hunk’s thumbs up, giving him some much needed reassurance. “My mom’s cooking for our last night together. I-I just thought you could join us” he finished nervously. 

“That sounds wonderful, but I can’t” Allura admitted sadly.

But before Lance could say anything  Romelle was already talking to Allura, beating him to the punch.

“Allura, I know you’re worried about Luca, but we’re worried about you. It’ll be good to get away for a night and clear your head”

“Right, yeah, all that stuff she’s saying. Totally” Lance gave Romelle a look that she understood as thanks and she nodded smiling. 

“Perhaps dinner would be nice” Allura said in thought. After a second, Allura looked at Lance in determination.

“I’d love to”

 

\-------------------------------

 

Lance stood outside of Coran’s door wondering if he should really do this. He wanted to know what the he thought. Coran was an advisor anyway.

“You okay, Lance?” a voice startled Lance from his thoughts. Lance turned around and saw Shiro smiling up at him in slight concern. Lance looked back at Coran’s door and then back at Shiro.

“Yeah” Lance said. “But, I was wondering if I could ask you something?”

“Of course” Shiro responded happily.

Looking back at Coran’s door one last time, Lance started walking up to Shiro.

“Great! Can we walk around though? It helps me think”

“Sure” Shiro said walking with Lance but not before looking back at Coran’s door confused.

Lance and Shiro walked around for a bit before Lance actually asked him question. He knew what he wanted to ask, but trying to articulate his feelings was proving to be difficult. Shiro stopped in an empty hallway and looked at Lance expectantly.

“What’s on your mind, Lance? You know you can ask me anything”

Lance decided to stop thinking of the right way to say his feelings and just let the words fall out of his mouth.

“I’m going on a date with Allura”

“Wow, congratulations Lance!” Shiro said smiling.

Lance smiled sadly up at Shiro, “Yeah, well the thing is that I don’t think Allura doesn’t want this to be a date-date and if I’m being honest, I don’t think so either”

“Why is that?” Shiro asked curiously, giving Lance his full attention.

“Well with everything that happened with Lotor” Lance started “I just think she doesn’t need a guy following her around as she’s trying to get over another guy. Plus, I don’t want to be someone’s rebound or second-choice, no matter how much I like Allura”

Shiro stood in thought for a second.

“It seems you have it all figured out”

Lance looked back at Shiro confused.

“What do you mean?”

“What I mean is that it seems you’ve already decided what you want to do. You can still go on that date with Allura and sort out anything else you might be feeling with her. It just looks like you’re looking for confirmation”

Lance looked at Shiro shocked.

“I guess you’re right”

Shiro smiled warmly at Lance and ruffled his hair.

“No problem, kid” Shiro said grinning as he walked away.

“Hey! I’m not a kid!” Lance retorted pouting, catching up to Shiro.

“Sure you’re not Lance” Shiro replied with a teaseful tone still grinning widely.

 

\-------------------------------

 

On top of the black lion, Keith and Kosmo stared at the sunset for the last time in a while.

“Man, you can be a real hard guy to find when you wanna be”

“Hey Lance” Keith said in greeting but he did a double take.

“Woah. What are you wearing?” _Are those cooking pots as shoulder pads and sausages as if it were a scarf?_

Lance groaned at his question.

“Somebody told Coran of my date with Allura and he started yelling about Altean courtship rules and dress wear. Oh, and Hi Kosmo!”

Keith looked at Lance in surprise as Kosmo gave him a wolfish grin.

“A date with Allura? Wow! Well done, Lance” Keith said happily despite his heart shattering. He was happy for Lance, truly. He just wanted Lance to be happy and loved, even if it was with someone else.

“Thanks, but it's not really a date-date, more a friend-date I think?” Lance explained.

“Oh. I’m sorry, I know how much you like Allura” Keith responded with sympathy”

However, Lance waved off his apology.

“It was actually my idea, I still have to tell Allura that I want this to be a friend-date and not a real one, but I don’t think she’ll mind it. She has a lot on her plate right now anyway”

“Listen, if she’s going out with you, it’s because she likes you. The annoying, stupid, Earth version of you” Keith supplied, unable to keep his fondness from his voice. Lance smiled at him the way that always Keith’s breath away.

“Yeah, maybe” Lance said laughing. “We’re still going to talk about it tonight but I think I’m going stick with the ‘staying friends’ thing though” He told Keith. “I think I want to get to know Allura better as a friend, I just hope I’m not giving up the only chance I’ll have at being in love”

Keith simply hummed in response, not knowing what to say in the moment.

“You watching the sunset?”

“Yeah” Keith sighed sadly yet filled with content. “Might be awhile before we get to see it again”

“Man, I’m really gonna miss this place”

“That’s why we gotta end this war” Keith smiled finally finding a way to soothe Lance’s insecurities. “And we’re going to do it with the Lance that’s the Paladin of the Red Lion” Keith looked down smiling. “The Lance that’s always got my back” Lance looked at Keith in wonderment as Keith closed his eyes. “And the Lance who knows exactly who he is and what he’s got to offer” Keith said finally looking at Lance.

And in that moment as Lance watched the sunset’s light hitting Keith’s face, Keith had never looked so beautiful. Lance watched in awe at how Keith’s eyes shined as if they were filled with loved and gratitude as his heart stuttered and pounded fast. _Why was his heart beating so hard?_

 

\-------------------------------

 

When the doorbell rang, Lance was standing at the stairs as his mother opened the door for Allura. When Lance saw Allura, his breath got caught in his throat.

“Wow. You look amazing” Lance breathed out

“Thank you” Allura said smiling shyly at him. “You look nice, too”

Lance chuckled. “It’s no Altean vestments, but…” Allura laughed

“Imagine you in a Forlongian brill hat” Allura said barely containing her laughter, Lance following shortly after

“Oh, Allura, this is my mom and Pop-pop. You know Veronica” Veronica waived when her name was mentioned. “That’s Rachel, my brother Marco, my other brother Luis, his wife Lisa, and their kids, Silvio and Nadia” all of them smiling brightly at Allura.

“Hello” Allura greeted back. 

 

\-------------------------------

 

“...Or the time when we were kids and Veronica mixed dirt with water and told Lance it was chocolate milk” everyone at the dinner table was laughing while Lance just sat there annoyed at his brother but never truly angry.

“Oh yeah! I still can’t believe he fell for it” Veronica said laughing

“What did he do?” Allura asked Veronica chuckling

“He told on me of course. Then Pop-pop gave him ice cream and I got none” Veronica answered with mock sadness

“Yeah, Lance was always the baby of the family” Marco supplied “It only took you coming to dinner to graduate him to the adult table”

At those words, Rachel shot Lance a death glare and lance retorted to sticking his tongue at her.

“Speaking of dates” Veronica told Lance, taking him away from his annoyed mood, “maybe you can put in a good word for me with that long-haired friend of yours, hmm?

“What, Keith?! No, no, no” Lance wasn’t sure why he was acting this way, but the idea of his sister and Keith dating made his blood boiled. “No way. No” Lance said through forced laughter as his sister looked at his knowingly. Allura shot him a concern look. “I mean absolutely not, there is no way in hell I am getting you a date with Keith” Lance told his sister sternly.

After a while of Veronica and Lance bickering, Veronica stood up from her seat with a raised glass on her hand.

“A toast to family” Veronica said, looking onto the table with shiny eyes. “Though we may be apart after tomorrow, we’ll always remain close at heart. Family is forever”

“To Family” The McClain family responded back.

Lance looked over at Allura and noticed that she had a solemn look on her face from Veronica's toast. He would ask her what was wrong once they were alone.

 

\-------------------------------

 

Lance took Allura on a walk through what used to be a park. He tells her of his many fond memories of the park as they approach it.

“This place used to be so beautiful” Lance told her as he looked around and only saw the destruction the Sendak had left behind.

“It’s all my fault, the Galra did this to your home”

“No, it's not your fault, Allura” he reassured her “besides, meeting you is the best thing that ever happened to me”

“Lance…” Allura started

“Allura, its fine. Its true that I do like you, but I understand you simply don’t contain those feelings for me, at least in the same way I do” Allura looked at him with regretfully.

“When we out there, fighting against the Galra, I somehow felt like, like we were a family” She admitted to Lance. “Each of us was alone, but we were alone together. But now, here on Earth, I see that everyone already has a family and a home to return to once the war is over. Everyone except me” Lance noticed the sharp inhale of breath she took before continuing on. “And for the first time, I feel uncertain about what my future holds”

She laughed. “It’s silly. I used to think the team relied on me. That I needed to be strong for everyone else” Her eyes were shiny as she continued on “But now I see it was _I_ that needed all of you” She finally looked at Lance “You are my strength”

“Allura, you are not alone. And if we have anything to say about it, you’ll never be alone” He told her “and don’t worry about me, Its okay that you don’t feel the same way about me, we’ll always be each other's families. All of us, we’re a team”

He pulled her into a tight embrace and they stood there what felt like hours.

“You’ll will always be our family, Allura, if you want us to be”

“I’d like that” Allura told him, both feeling better about the situation.

As the comfortable silence filled the air, Allura approached the almost dead tree in the middle of the park and placed her hand on its trunk. She began to heal it, Lance noticed, and with it the entire park. Within seconds, the park was back to how Lance remembered it to be and he felt at peace.

When Allura walked back and stood besides him as they both watched the park come to life, Lance felt his wounded heart began to heal because Allura was still his friend and she still cared for him.

“Thank you” Lance told her with watery eyes and a soft smile.

“Anytime, Lance” She told him and she meant it because he is her family and she will always protect her family.

 

\-------------------------------

 

When Launch Day came, they had a big ceremony and when that ceremony was over, it was time to leave.

As Lance approached his family, his heart felt heavy. Sure, Veronica was coming with him and that made it better but he was going to miss them all so much. After the tearful goodbyes and constant hugs and “Be Safe!” were said his mother told him something he will never forget.

“You may be leaving your earth family back, but you are taking your space family with you, never lose sight of them. Te amo, mi niño”

**Author's Note:**

> That's the end of this chapter! I will hopefully be posting frequently, but I'm currently in finals so I'll let you guys know. 
> 
> Also, don't worry pidge is definitely a part of this story and will be introduced during the next chapter. 
> 
> Most of the dialogue are direct quotes from the actual episode
> 
> Also, this chapter is a short one, but as the story continues the chapter will be longer and less reliant on canon 
> 
> I'd love to hear your feedback! 
> 
> -Ruby


End file.
